


Not Like Him

by agentsimmons



Series: Mutants and Monsters [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Fluff, Gen, Justin Hammer Hates Being Enemy-Zoned, Kid Charles Xavier, Kid Fic, Non-Linear Narrative, Parent Tony Stark, Pre-Avengers (2012), Pre-Slash, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5882008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A run in with Hammer at an event leaves Tony a little fragile regarding his relationship with Howard, but it leads to an important moment in his relationship with Charles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Like Him

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of my creative juices for this series so far have been for Tony's and Charles' sides of the origin so we're popping back to those two in this one and I've already written another one for them after that (although I've also written two and a half others for Bruce and Raven as well) and started work on a multi-chapter Iron Man origin entry for this series which will also be pre-Tony/Bruce. They'll meet eventually promise haha.
> 
> **This one takes place shortly before Charles' second birthday so a little over a year after _Anyone Can Be A Father, But._ TW for mentions of child abuse/neglect.**

"If it isn't the old man."

Tony contemplates shattering his glass between his fist because a bloody hand would still be more pleasant than the company of the man behind him. But he doesn't think a cut up hand is conducive to…well…anything so he plasters on a fake, sharp smile and turns to face the creep.

"Hammer," he says evenly.

"So, Stark, how's fatherhood treating you?" The sniveling rat asks him without any other introduction. "I hear you're having some shindig for the little pipsqueak's birthday." Tony narrows his eyes at him. Charles is on the small size, but he's healthy and that's what matters. Well, healthy beyond his recurring migraines. "Nothing says terrible twos like having your rich," Justin air quotes, "'father' rent out the zoo to parade the fact that he can."

"It's a charity event," Tony says simply and takes a small drink. "I won't bother explaining it further since I wouldn't expect you to understand that concept."

"Oh yeah. That's real rich coming from you, Stark," Hammer snipes. "Suddenly bubbling over with humanity since becoming a parent? I thought that sort of thing only affected women," he attempts to malign him in a pathetic fashion.

"Absolutely nothing you just said made any sense." Tony finishes off his drink. "Is there a reason you came over here other than to waste my time?" Tony then asks pointedly.

Justin raises his hands in mock attempt of surrender. "Whoa now. We're cool here, Stark. Retract those claws. One would think you're a little testy. Is the kid cramping your style? You can tell your buddy, Justin."

"You and I are not buddies. And Charles has added to my style actually," Tony says, deftly putting his empty glass on a tray that goes by.

"You sure about that?" Justin asks and takes a few steps in. Tony practically groans when he realizes this is another one of Hammer's moments of liquid courage aimed in his direction. "Cuz word on the street is you're downright respectable these days. You've become _selective_ with your fuck buddies." Justin places the palms of both hands against his chest and Tony rolls his eyes. "Maybe you need to forget the kid for a night and let out some of that pent up frustration."

Tony takes hold of Justin's wrists. "We've been over this, Hammer. I like women. I like men. Give me a call when you fit either one of those categories." He then pushes him off. "Hey, call me if you're ever both of those categories."

Justin practically seethes over the rejection, combined no doubt with all of the other jealousies he has when it comes to Tony, and reels back. Tony ignores it and turns to walk away. He knows he's being unnecessarily dickish about it, but he just can't play nice with the guy.

"How long, Stark?" Justin hisses. "How long, huh?" Tony pauses in spite of himself to hear the guy's vehemence out. "We all know you're going to get bored with the little brat." Tony's jaw clenches. "You may have lasted this long, but it's just a matter of time. Are you going to ship him off to boarding school? Or maybe you'll just beat him like we all know your old man—"

Tony doesn't usually make a habit of taking the first punch if a person's inebriated or not worth his time, but his fist connects with Justin's jaw before he has a chance to continue his verbal attack. Justin hits the floor easily and there are the expected gasps and stares from other guests at the tech event. He expects this to end up in the news the following morning, but he doesn't care. Instead he moves over to Justin and crouches over him, making even more of a scene.

"Let's be clear once and for all," he says as Justin rubs at his jaw. "I've never been interested. But on the very astronomical chance I found myself desperate enough to consider you I still wouldn't after a crack like that. Also," Tony grabs him by his collar and glares at him, "don't you dare ever bring my son into this again."

Tony lets go of him roughly then and decides that's enough peasantry for one night.

Once he gets back to the mansion and has dismissed the nanny for the evening, Tony immediately goes to Charles’ room. He's not entirely surprised to find his son is awake, in his crib, babbling incessantly in a mixture of baby gibberish and the words his clever little brain has already picked up on - apparently his language development is progressing at an above average pace even if he, of course, still pronounces words incorrectly or is sometimes incoherent.

Tony listens in amusement from the door, trying to distinguish what's going on in that head of Charles’. In between some of the gibberish he hears different names. Happ and Javi and Pep and Obe are all mentioned, though Tony has to stifle a small laugh at how displeased Charles sounds when he reaches Obi.

Suddenly Charles stops his apparent dissertation on the people, or in JARVIS’ case AIs, in their lives and says, “Daddy,” in pure delight.

Tony moves all the way into the room and sees Charles pulling himself up in bed by the safety bars of the crib. “Hey there, buddy. How come you always seem to have a knack for knowing when I'm around, huh?” He asks playfully.

Charles cutely holds up his arms and looks up at him with hopeful eyes. It's late, but he's up anyhow and Tony wants the closeness just as much as he does. So Tony hauls him up into his arms and heads over to the armchair in the room, sitting down with Charles in his lap when he reaches it.

As is his habit now, Tony feels Charles' forehead for any sign of fever. "You're a little warm," he notes. But it's not enough for him to be too concerned. Sometimes it passes before the migraines can truly form and Charles indicates when he's in pain now. "How was your night, kiddo?" He decides to ask. "Do anything fun?"

Charles hums and gives a thoughtful look. "Play zoo amals," he answers cheerily.

"Zoo animals, huh?" Tony smiles. "That does sound like fun."

"Uh huh," Charles affirms.

"And it sounds like somebody's excited for his birthday party. So what animals did you play?"

Charles furrows his brow and looks down at one of Tony's hands. He starts fiddling with his fingers. "Um, I play… I play, oh, lines! And… and... elphants!" Charles makes a trumpeting noise in Tony's face then giggles and Tony wonders how anyone could ever imagine he'd get bored with this, with Charles.

"That was a very good elephant," Tony says with a broad smile. "Fooled me. I was afraid there was a stampede outside," he says in dramatic earnest while Charles giggles harder. Tony then sighs as Charles starts to calm down again. "You had a better night than me. Daddy wishes he could have stayed home and played zoo animals with you."

"Yeah," Charles says in a small voice as he plays with Tony's hand again, lying down against Tony's chest. Tony can tell he's finally getting sleepy.

"Instead I had to put up with people like Hammer," Tony continues after a moment. "Ugh, _Hammer_."

" _Hammer_ ," Charles repeats in a similarly disgusted tone, mimicking him.

Tony chuckles. "That's right. That guy takes creep to the next level. And he seems to have some pretty ridiculous ideas about me and you." Tony pauses and thinks about it for a moment. "Then again I'm pretty that’s what everyone thinks. But they’re wrong, you know. I may be a lot of things and I may not ever be the best at this, but I promise I’ll never treat you the way my dad treated me. I promise I won't be him…”  

Tony realizes he’d zoned out a little while sharing his thoughts with the almost two year old, who probably didn't understand a word of any of it. He looks down at Charles and sees his eyes have closed and his breathing indicates he's drifting to sleep. Tony smiles and doesn’t move to put him back to bed just yet. He’s okay just sitting there and holding his sleeping son.

His father had never held him like this. He wonders if it was because Howard was truly that distant and cold or if it was himself that didn't inspire that kind of paternal warmth the way Charles inspired it. Maybe he just wasn't a special enough son—

"Daddy special," Charles mumbles reverently in his sleep.

Tony's eyes go wide before narrowing again in confusion. Several thoughts run through his head at the strange occurrence as he continues to hold his son. One of those thoughts is that his son is psychic.

**Author's Note:**

> A friend and I used to headcanon that Justin was not only jealous of Tony, but also secretly hot for him. That's where that part comes from; I don't actually ship it or anything. Also, Charles' misspelled speech is intentional, but I'm sure that was obvious.


End file.
